Khaji-Da!
by RenegadeDungeonMaster1996
Summary: What if Blue Beetle was bonded with the scarab for most of his life? Also, what if the Team had a more of an X-man vibe? AU where all this happens, plus Wonderbeetle and Ted Kord mentoring!
1. Chapter 1

**Somewhere in space...**

The tiny blue object drifted through space. To an uninformed observer, it would look completely innocuous, but the blue insect was not as benign as appearances presumed...

Scarab is in position. Scanning Sector 2814 for worlds with compatible life to implement infiltration protocol

If the scarab had a mouth, or was capable of emotion, it would have felt pleasure at the results of its scan. Thousands of worlds, all teeming with sentient life, perfect for the Reach to subjugate. The scarab locked in a course to the nearest world, a world the inhabitants called Earth...

**Sixty seven years and six months later, in El Paso, Texas.**

Jaime Reyes tore down the street, giggling as he chased his friend Paco. The seven year olds were taking advantage of a Texan summer by engaging in a water fight. As the two kids raced around the street, a blue flash shot through the sky, one that changed direction, a change that went unnoticed by the two happy children as they played in the streets.

"Hey, Paco, I think we need to go home now. Mom will have baked cookies."

The other boy grinned, and the two headed home. After Paco went home, Jaime climbed onto his roof and watched the stars. After he stargazed for about an hour, he went inside and went to bed. Little did he know, his peaceful life was about to fracture and change...forever.

**El Paso, Texas, 10:00 AM, UTC**

Zzzzzt...rebooting...error! Error! Datafile corruption! Must acquire nearest organic host and complete mission!

The scarab sprung to life, scanning the area for compatible lifeforms. The house (though the scarab didn't know the word) that it beheld after it burrowed to the surface held three organic lifeforms, two male and one female. The adult male and the adult female weren't close enough for the scarab to reach with its depleted power levels, leaving only the humanoid child.

Jaime saw the scarab literally seconds before it struck, not really comprehending what he saw, since, (obviously) he was seven. The scarab leaped onto his arm, and scuttled up his sleeve, reaching the base of his neck in seconds. The scarab sunk its mandibles into Jaime's neck, its legs digging into his spine. Jaime screamed, but the scarab actually didn't hurt him when it bonded.

"Aaagh! What is this thing?! Get it off! _Mami! Papi! Ayuadame! Ayuadame!"_

Error! Error! Unable to access mission parameters!

The scarab was panicking as much as Jaime was, since, for some reason, the scarab couldn't access its memory database from before rebooting and attaching to Jaime. In its damaged state, the scarab started scanning Jaime's memories for something, _anything, _that could replace the missing data. Meanwhile, Jaime's parents came rushing out to help him, only to find Jaime passed out on the ground...

A/N Sorry for the crappy first chapter, I promise it's totally gonna get better.


	2. Chapter 2

**El Paso, Texas, 11:00 AM, UTC**

**"**Jaime? Jaime, are you awake?"

Jamie slowly blinked, and the blurry images of his parents came into focus, along with...

"_Mami, _why is there a super-hero in my room?"

The Jaime Reyes is awake. Warning. This unit's power level is dangerously low. Shutting down all primary functions and starting auto-repair

Jaime jumped out of bed and stared at everyone in the room, temporarily forgetting the fact that Ted Kord, aka Blue Beetle, was standing in his bedroom

"_Mami, Papi, _did you hear that?" He stared at his parents, wide brown eyes filled with fear. His parents looked worriedly at Ted.

"Mr Kord, is Jaime going to okay?" Bianca Reyes looked at Ted, her face filled with concern for her son.

"Don't worry, Miss Reyes. This was expected to happen. The scarab is talking to Jaime. Would you allow me a few moments with Jaime?"

Alberto and Bianca nodded reluctantly, and walked out of the room, leaving the door open a crack. Ted sat down in front of Jaime, and smiled kindly.

"Take a seat, Jaime. I'm going to explain everything. That scarab attached to your back is a device that used to belong to Dan Garret, the first Blue Beetle and a great man. He used the scarab to gain amazing powers, like the ability to fly-" Ted was interrupted by Jaime jumping up and yelling excitedly.

'I'm going to be able to fly? Will I be able to shoot laser out of my eyes? Will I be super strong as well? Am I going to be a superhero?"

Ted sighed. _This is going to take a while, _he thought.

"Jaime. For some reason, the scarab is really weak. I don't think you'll have flight for a while. It's very badly hurt, you see. And, when you turn fifteen, I'll take you in for training. Until then...sit tight, and I'll talk to your parents about this..."

**Three years later...**

[Rebooting...analyzing new mission parameters...New mission accepted: Protect Jaime Reyes and his familial unit.]

Jaime sat bolt upright in his bed. During the three years since the scarab latched onto his spine, he'd never heard it speak once.

"Um...hi?"

[Greetings, Jaime Reyes.]

"Okay...this is really weird. You know my name, but I don't know yours, bug."

[This unit has no 'name'.]

"Dude, everyone has a name. You gotta have a name."

[Explain]

"Um...explain what?"

[Explain this 'name']

"Um...a name is how people know who you are. Like, someone just sees you, and they wanna be a friend, they have to know your name."

[Analyzing...a name is a form of designation used to differentiate between individuals. This unit has no 'name']

"You know what? I'm gonna call you Scarab for now."

[Acceptable.]

**Five Years Later**

Jaime got off the bus to school, grinning at Paco as the two of them walked over to meet with their friends Tye Longshadow and Brenda Del Vecchio. Scarab had finally decided that the three teenagers weren't a threat to Jaime and ceased threatening to eviscerate Brenda every time she gave Jaime a hug. Jaime had finally figured out how the armour worked after three years, when the scarab had finally said: [Repairs to tactical directory complete. Deploying Infiltration Mode]. The armour had taken some time to get used to, but it was totally worth it, besides the really crazy advice the scarab gave him.

[Jaime Reyes. The enemy designated "Carl" approaches. Hormonal scans indicate he is in a state of belligerence. Recommended tactic: _Evisceration_]

_Hey, hermano, we had this conversation. We hate Carl, but we don't kill him._

[You are a fool, Jaime Reyes. The "Carl" is intent on your destruction.]

The bulky footballer strode up to Jaime, a cruel smirk on his face, blond hair gelled into spikes.

"Hey, Reyes! You're going to give me your history paper."

Jaime raised an eyebrow, and Paco stepped up beside him

"This guy givin' you a problem, hermano?"

The bulky teenager was easily a match for Carl in both size and weight, and Paco's reputation as a mean fighter made him a little bit more of a threat. The Scarab liked how Paco fought, which in itself is more than a little worrying. Carl slowly backed away, and turned to leave.

"See you later, Jaime. You know you won't always have Paco to save you!"

Jaime sighed, and clapped Paco on his back.

"Thanks, hermano. Let's just get to class, yeah?"

The foursome walked into the school building, and got ready for class. Jaime looked out the window of his history class, and sighed to himself

_When am I going to become a proper hero?_

[Jaime Reyes, the Ted Kord will return soon for his next visit.

"I know that!"

Everyone in class looked at him like he was crazy, something Jaime was getting even more used to after five years of having Jiminy Cricket with a bad attitude living in his head and occasionally taking command of his voice.

**Meanwhile, at the edges of school...**

**"**It's them."

The figure in the shadows looked at her partner.

"Really? Who's going to approach them?"

"I'll handle Longshadow. You take Reyes."

"Why me?"

"Which one of us is he more likely to listen to?"

"Fiiiine."

The two figures lept off, and stood in wait for their targets...

A/N: Guess who the mystery figures are! Also, I hope people don't mind how the timeline skips around...


	3. Chapter 3

**El Paso, Texas, 3:15 PM UTC**

Jaime flew around El Paso, school having ended early. The armoured teen landed on a rooftop, and sat on the edge, dangling his feet over the edge.

_Beautiful day, huh, hermano?_

[The day is indeed...appealing, Jaime Reyes.]

_So, picking up anything on the police scanner?_

[Searching...searching...robbery in progress. Suspects metahuman]

_Supervillains? In El Paso? This place gets weirder, like, every day._

[Indeed, Jaime Reyes. Are you ready to apprehend the criminals?]

_Sure thing, ese, Let's move out!_

Jaime sprung into action, metallic wings springing from his back as he flew to the disturbance. In a matter of seconds, he was in position to apprehend the criminals. The two suspects, the Terror Twins, weren't expecting to see the scarab-empowered hero at all, and were caught off guard. Rather than waste time talking smack, Jaime armed his sonic scrambler. sending a sonic pulse at the two. The ultrasonic blast knocked the Terror Twins off balance, but it didn't finish the two.

[The metahumans still stand. Recommended tactic: Plasma cannon, wide dispersal. _Incinerate them_]

"And risk harming civilians? _Ese, _we talked about his. Amp up the sonic. No way are we closing with them, either."

The scarab obliged, blasting the Twins with an even stronger sonic burst, knocking them unconscious. Jaime landed in front of them, arming the staple gun and pinning them to the ground until the police showed up. After the Twins had been apprehended, he deployed his wings and flew away, searching for an abandoned street to power down in. As he landed and powered down, a girl's voice rang out behind him.

"Nice armour. You must be Jaime Reyes."

Jaime spun around, the armour recovering his body. Behind him was a girl...who was absolutely beautiful. Blonde hair, blue eyes, full, pink lips, Jaime was completely lost for words. She was about the same height as him, and was very athletic. She was wearing a black t-shirt with a golden "W" on it, and had a golden lasso on her hip.

[Hormonal imbalance detected. Arming plasma cannon]

_Wha-? No, ese! I think I've seen this girl on the news or something..._

[Searching databanks...Wonder Girl. Protege of the metahuman designated 'Wonder Woman'.]

Cassie looked at the immobile figure in front of her, and raised an eyebrow, wondering whether she should see if he was okay. The guy had seemed pretty rattled when she had greeted him, and, the more she thought about it, she couldn't blame the guy.

"Um, Jaime? I'm Cassandra Sandsmark, everyone call me Cassie or Cass. I'm Wonder Girl, and I'm here to talk to you about the Team."

Jaime managed to convince the scarab not to murder the hot girl, and he removed his armour.

"Hey, um...what's the Team?"

Cassie smiled.

"Oh, right, you don't know. The Team is like the Junior Justice League, where teenagers with powers or secret identities, or both, learn how to use their powers and fight crime. We get missions from the League and stuff, and it's super awesome. You could totally learn all the stuff you can do with that armour, and you could also learn how to fight properly."

She smiled at Jaime, who was fighting back a blush

[The Wonder Girl's proposition has merit, Jaime Reyes. However, her effect on your physiology is affecting the areas of your brain in control of rational thought. I am assuming control of vocal centres]

_No way, ese. We made a deal, remember? No overrides when we are outside combat unless someone just wants to talk to you._

[...Fine. But I warn you, Jaime Reyes. This one is not of our familial unit, and therefore cannot be fully trusted.]

Jaime smiled awkwardly at Cassie

"Um, sorry, I was just...never mind. So, this Team sounds awesome. Will I have to go anywhere? Like, where is the base?"

Cassie facepalmed and giggled a little.

"Oh, right, the base is in Happy Harbour...and you'll have to transfer schools."

Jaime stood stock still

"Um, switch schools? Like...leave El Paso?"

Cassie nodded. _This guy seems a little weird. He's cute though. _

"Yeah, you'll have to leave. Don't worry, Ted is supposed to tell your mom and dad about all this anyway."

Jaime smiled

'Well, I guess this team sounds pretty cool. When do I leave?"

A/N So, Wonder Girl and Jaime have met... Next chapter will be the arrival at Mount Justice, and Jaime's first training lesson


	4. Chapter 4

**Mount Justice, 10:00 AM EDT**

"Recognised: Wonder Girl, B022, Nightwing B02."

As Jaime followed Cassie outside of the Zeta tube, he stopped stock still.

"_Dios..._this place is huge. Utterly freaking massive."

Cassie turned back and grinned at him.

"It's a little overwhelming at first, yeah, but you get used to it."

Jaime shook his head, chuckling slightly

"I can tell you right now, I doubt I'm ever going to get used to this. Especially the teleporting thing."

[Zeta tube technology, interplanetary transportation.]

"Whoa? Really? That's so awesome..."

His voice trailed off as he saw Cassie and the others in the room staring at him weirdly. A tall, muscular teenager walked over to him, a welcoming smile on his face. He extended a hand, showing slightly webbed fingers, gills plainly evident on his throat.

"Greetings, Jaime Reyes, I am Kaldur'ahm, leader of the Team. You've already met Cassie, and this is Connor." He said, gesturing to an intimidating black-haired human in a Superman t-shirt, "Aka Superboy. The others aren't here right now, so I'd take this opportunity to investigate the Cave. You'll be spending a lot of time here."

Jaime shook his hand, smiling a little awkwardly.

"It's awesome to meet you, Kaldur'ahm. So, um, where should I start with the whole tour thing?"

Cassie interjected at that point, putting a hand on Jaime's shoulder.

"I could show you around, if you like." She said, her cheeks colouring lightly as she spoke. Jaime turned around, and smiled a little shyly

"I'm totally fine with that, _chica."_

[Hormonal imbalance detected! Jaime Reyes, the Wonder Girl has a serious effect on your biochemical makeup. I do not advise associating with her.]

_Oh, come on, ese. It's not like she's ever gonna go for someone like us, the idea is actually laughable._

[Jaime Reyes, you are possibly the strongest metahuman in this room. Do not...searching for appropriate idiom...sell yourself short.]

_Okay...now you are sending mixed signals_

[Jaime Reyes, the Wonder Girl is moving. I suggest you follow, the intelligence acquired will be invaluable.]

_Okay, okay, I'm going._

Jaime followed after Cassie as she led him through the hallways of the Cave, occasionally pointing out cool rock formations and the like. She eventually led him to a well-furnished kitchen and living area, and sat on a stool.

"So, this is the kitchen area, so, you know, help yourself to the food...just don't touch the cookies. They're Conner's."

Jaime nodded, and went to the fridge, grabbing a bottle of orange juice and a piece of apple pie, sitting on the stool opposite hers.

"So...um, we're going to be spending a lot of time together." he said nervously, "So, uh, we should get to know each other a bit better."

Cassie smiled, which in itself made Jaime even more flustered, and he blushed a little as she spoke

"So, what do you want to know, Jaime?"

He shrugged

"What's your favourite movie?"

She thought for a minute, and then spoke, looking slightly embarrassed.

"I'm gonna say...Aladdin."

Jaime blinked.

"I love that movie! It was our favourite movie growing up!"

Cassie raised an eyebrow, looking a little puzzled

"What do you mean, 'our'?"

Jaime panicked for a second

_Ohshit, she's going to think I'm crazy._

[I do not see the issue. Reveal my existence. Your reluctance to do so is illogical, and may endanger the mission]

_Yeah...that's...fine. Just...fine. Ted's probably gonna tell them anyway._

During this altercation, Cassie looked at Jaime

_Okay...this guy is kinda weird. Is he crazy? He doesn't look like a crazy person. Maybe I should say something._

Jaime cleared his throat.

"Hey, um, Cassie? There is something you should know."

She tilted her head to one side

"What is it?"

Jaime stood up, and armoured up

"See this armour? It's not just really insanely amazing technology. It's...alive."

Cassie stared at him for a second.

"I KNEW IT!"

Jaime stared at her

"Wha-...how?"

The blonde superheroine rolled her eyes

"Please. I'm not dumb you know. You keep blanking out, and when we were monitoring you before, you talked to the armour when you were taking down the Terror Twins. I mean, I didn't know then, but now you just helped me join all the dots."

Jaime sighed, relaxing.

"Okay...so you're fine with the whole crazy space bug on my spine deal?"

Cassie laughed

"My dad is a Greek god and I'm friends with a clone. I have a high tolerance for 'weird'."

She jokingly punched him, promptly knocking him across the room

"Ohmygod Jaime, I'm so sorry!"

Jaime crashed through the door, but was largely unharmed, the suit protecting him

[The Wonder Girl has initiated an attack! Arming plasma cannon!]

_No, ese! It was an accident! You know, like being shoved in a crowded place._

[If you had been unarmoured, three of your ribs would have fractured]

_Not as bad as that time you tried to do strength mode._

[...Shut up]

Jaime shakily rose to his feet, retracting his armour, smiling at Cassie

"Don't worry, I'm fine. I've taken harder hits then that."

Cassie let out a tense breath and gave him a quick hug

"Okay. I'm still really sorry."

Jaime froze, the hug having caught both the scarab and Jaime off guard. He took a deep breath, savouring the flowery smell of Cassie's hair

"Um...it's fine..?"

Cassie released him, and grinned

"I should find a way to make it up to you. How about we go to the movies?"

Jaime nearly passed out then.

_Scarab..did she just ask me out?_

A/N: Yeah, sorry for all those people who wanted the training session, I decided to change plans. Also, I really enjoy writing Cassie and Jaime's interactions, so...next chapter will be fun!


	5. Chapter 5

[This unit has no frame of reference for your hormone based reproductive cycles, Jaime Reyes.]

Jaime shuddered as the scarab spoke, feeling rather peeved at the creature's rather clinical assessment of relationships.

_Could you not be creepy when I'm around a girl for once, ese?_

[Negative. You're funny when you're grossed out.]

Jaime rolled his eyes, awkwardly grinning at Cassie. The girl was leaning against the counter, an eyebrow quirked as she apparently waited for his response to her statement. Jaime gulped a little and stopped talking to his pants

"So, yeah, Cassie, I'd love to catch a movie with you. What about Friday? I mean, I can do Friday. Friday is a good day, _chica. _Friday is the best day."

He blushed slightly, his hand scratching the back of his head.

"So, you wanna see Captain America or...what?"

Cassie smiled, brushing a tiny bit of hair behind her ear.

"It's a date. Anyway I..."

Cassie was interrupted by a loud roar of wind blowing into the room and a flash of red and white light. The scarab reacted instantly, covering Jaime in his armour and generating a large, hook pointed blade in his hand. Cassie interposed herself with alarm

"Jaime, Scarab, whatever, it's just a speedster. Not sure which one though."

Cassie yelled, hoping that something horrible wasn't going to happen. The armour slowly retracted, with the blade being the last thing to vanish. Jaime facepalmed quite hard, looking incredibly embarrassed

"I'm really sorry. There aren't any sane speedsters in El Paso, so the Scarab gets kinda tetchy around them."

He avoided eye contact with Cassie, hoping to hell that she didn't decide: Hey, this guy is a crazy mofo, better steer clear of that. Fortunately for the slightly paranoid teen, Cassie didn't appear to have developed any form of revulsion concerning his abilities or personality. Or dress sense. Again, as he was about to speak to Cassie, the speaker in the kitchen blared out:

"All new metahumans, report to the operations room for team assignment!"

Cassie grinned, taking hold of Jamie's arm and tugging him along

"Come on! You gotta get to the ops room! Who your teammates are is literally the most important thing that can happen to you here!''

The two pretty much bolted to the ops room, Jaime following Cassie as best he could. Which was pretty fast, since he armoured up. Again. Seriously, he needed to talk to the Scarab about the hair trigger on the armour.

_I swear, ever since you could armour up, you've been like a kid with a new toy_

[You're just jealous that your meatbag body doesn't have an exoskeleton]

_Yeees, because EVERYONE wants to look like a bug crossed with a luchador_

[I LIKE luchadores.]

As the two bickered mentally, they arrived at the operations room, which was filled with about twenty teenagers in various costumes. Jaime recognised Tye and went over to stand next to him, since Cassie had gone over to her team, which was pretty much all girls for some reason. Jaime recognised Batgirl and Supergirl from the news and the Justice League fansite he ran (long story), the fourth girl was not familiar to him. She wore a blue suit of scalemail? He thought it was scalemail. And for some reason she had an eyepatch. Go figure. Anyway, Jaime stood next to Tye, trading fistbumps

"So, the mighty Apache is gonna team up with the spectacular Scarab?"

Tye rolled his eyes, grinning despite himself.

"Sure thing, _ese_. As long as we don't do something incredibly stupid in the interim."

Jaime laughed.

"Won't be stupider than junior prom, Tye."

Tye laughed but immediately shut up when Batman entered the ops room. Yeah. THE BATMAN. If you listened carefully, you probably would have heard Jamie squeeing to the Scarab. The Bat cleared his throat slightly and spoke in his guttural voice

"You all know why you're here. You're young metahumans or vigilantes with some training who want to save the world some day. Welcome to Mount Justice. Here, you will stop being amateurs and become _heroes._"

After the inspiring speech (it really was quite inspiring. Even the Scarab got pumped), Batman started assigning metahumans to their teams. Apparently, this was a permanent assignment, which kinda bummed Jamie out (what if his teammates were jackasses or worse: Cubs fans?), but as the names were read out, he was pretty damn satisfied with his teammates: Lagoon Boy, an Atlantean with a literal fish face, Tye Longshadow, his personal heterosexual life partner, Red Robin, a bat brat and Raven, who was literally the most terrifying person Jamie had ever met.

The teams assembled, and Batman dismissed them. The various groups wandered off to chat and what-not, while the older members of the Team joked around.

A/N SORRY FOR TAKING FOREVER TO UPDATE AND SORRY FOR THE RUSHED ENDING! IRL stuff sucks. Anyway, I'm back. Back again. And (hopefully) we're gonna do weekly updates from now on. Fingers crossed.


End file.
